Jourdain left seething over pit penalty

The Miami pit lane is one of the narrowest of the season and as at Brands Hatch earlier in the year, a 35-mph speed limit was instituted. Monteiro was on his way into the pits for his final stop when Team Rahal waved Jourdain out, and his car and Monteiro's made side-to-side contact.

Jourdain's car wasn't damaged, but his race - and possibly his championship hopes - were when CART officials ordered him to drop to the back of the pack during the next full-course caution. Had Jourdain gone on to win, he would have been 19 points behind series leader Tracy with three races to go. After a seventh place finish at Miami, he finds himself 33 points back.

"From my point of view, we did everything we could to avoid contact," Jourdain noted. "If CART is going to have us race with pit lanes this small then they must understand that when everyone pits at the same time there will be issues. I am very disappointed in the decision made by the officials."

The decision also upset team owner and three-time CART champion Bobby Rahal.

"I find it difficult to comprehend why the officials would want to interject themselves in and affect the championship," Rahal said. "What I find particularly galling is that these pits are at best inappropriate for an event of this stature. To allow such marginal confines to have a potentially devastating effect on the championship is quite frankly beyond me."